Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2009 - (Page 10)

AROUND thE world in BRIEF Substrate Makers Prepare for a Slow First Quarter. Market watchers are predicting a weak first quarter for IC substrate makers. Kinsus Interconnect Technologies and Nan Ya Printed Circuit Board (NPC) are expected to have a 20% to 30% drop in sales. Because of diversifying customers and products, observers are predicting only a 10% to 15% decline for Phoenix Precision Technology (PPT). estimates show a 25% decrease in fourth-quarter sales in 2008 for Kinsus and NPC. PPT is expected to show a 20% decline. Chu-Ching hu, chairman of PPT, expects the company will see up to a 10% decline in January sales and a first-quarter loss. NH Legislator to Propose State Ban on Electronics Waste. A state committee in New hampshire will soon contemplate a bill banning the disposal of electronics waste into landfills. The proposed bill is expected to be introduced this month by Rep. Tara Sad, chairman of the environment and Agriculture Committee, and would be sent to either to the house environment and Agricultural Committee or the Science and Technology Committee, the local Union Leader newspaper reported. Sad cited landfill capacity, the rise of corporate takeback programs and “e-waste” recycling firms, and moral obligations that would keep the US from shipping waste to third-world nations. Merix Posts Results. Merix Corp. released second-quarter consolidated financial results for 2009. The company suffered a net loss of $6.1 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, on revenue of $76.9 million. Included in the figure are $1.1 million of severance and a write down of assets.Revenue fell 15% compared to the first quarter, focused mainly in the communications and networking end market segments. The company’s advance shipment of nearly $2.5 million in product to support Asia’s Oracle implementation adversely impacted revenue.The gross margin averaged 7 .8% of revenue, with North American gross margins falling over 7 points to 4.1%. Operating expenses totaled $10.3 million, and Merix produced $4.0 million of cash from second-quarter operations. Notebooks Top Desktops for 1st Time. Global notebook PC shipments exceeded those of desktops on a quarterly basis for the first time ever in the third quarter, according to iSuppli Corp. Notebook PC shipments rose almost 40% in the third quarter of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3% for the same period to 38.5 million units. “Momentum has been building in the notebook market for some time, so it’s not a complete surprise that shipments have surpassed those of desktops, ” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli. Worldwide PC unit shipments rose 15.4% year-over-year, with 79 million units shipped, topping previous iSuppli’estimates of 12%. EDA Revenues Fall 10.9% in Q3 2008 San JoSE, ca – The EDA Consortium announced that EDA industry revenue fell 10.9% to about $1.3 billion for the third quarter of 2008 and the fourquarter moving average declined 2.8%. Companies that were tracked saw employment increase in Q3 2008, up 3.4% when compared to Q3 2007. In the third quarter there were 28,176 professionals, up 6% compared to Q2 2008. Performance of the EDA industry segments was mixed. Printed circuit board and multi-chip module revenue increased 2.5% when compared to Q3 2007 to $130.9 million. The four-quarter moving average growth rate increased 0.4%. Services revenue was $104.8 million, up 25% from the same period a year ago. The four-quarter moving average growth rate was up 14%. The biggest losses were seen in the IC physical design & verification segment where revenue decreased 22.3% to $298.7 million for Q3 2008. The four-quarter moving average growth rate declined 10.1%. Semiconductor intellectual property revenue totaled $267.8 million, a 1.8% increase compared to Q3 2007. The four-quarter moving average growth rate was down 1.2%. Computed aided engineering (CAE) had a 17.6% decrease, with sales of $465.4 million for Q3 2008. The four-quarter moving average growth rate was down 1.9%. The third quarter 2008 by region showed sales in North America of $555.5 million, down 11%. Western Europe had sales of $247.7 million, down 12.9%. Japan had sales of $254.8 million, and was down 15.3%. The Rest-of-World sales figures were $200.5 million, down 0.9%. Congress Asked to Renew Depreciation Schedule waShinGton – Industry business leaders are calling on Congress to renew the depreciation laws tied to the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which allowed companies to reduce the time it take to recoup outlays for capital equipment. Per H.R. 5140, Congress shortened the time frame under which certain businesses assets could be depreciated. The rules expired Dec. 31. "A strong manufacturing sector is critical to a rapid economic recovery," wrote Matthew Holzmann, president of Christopher Associates, in one letter. "It would seem from the headlines that only certain industries would benefit from many of the proposals in Congress at present. Reinstatement of accelerated depreciation, especially as written in H.R. 5150, will help all industries and is a real, tangible tool for keeping America strong." PCB Orders Down 19% in November BANNOCKBURN, IL – The 90-day moving average of November shipments of bare PCBs fell 7% year-over-year and orders slumped 18.8%, according to the latest survey of the nation’s board fabricators. For the month, rigid shipments dropped 5.8% and bookings fell 17.3%, while flex circuit shipments dropped 22.6% and bookings plunged 36.8%, IPC said. Through November, rigid shipments are up 2.4%, and bookings are down 3.8%. Flex circuit shipments are up 5.8% and bookings are down 5.5% versus last year. Rigid PCBs make up an estimated 90% of survey. About 14% of the value of the PCBs covered in the survey are imported by brokers, IPC said. Overall, shipments are up 2.6% and bookings are down 3.9%. IPC said in a statement it expects PCB revenues in 2008 will be flat with 2007. 10 printEd CirCuit dESign & fAB FEBRUARY 2009

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2009

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2009 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Tip Jar BGA Bulletin Interconnect Strategies Final Finsh Forum Defects Database Embedded Active Components In Multilayer LCP Packages Simulation: The Need for Speed Advanced Registration Systems The DC Design Squeeze Ad Index Do You Really Want a Better Autorouter? Designing With Conductive Materials, Part 1 Off th eShelf Marketplace On the Forefront

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - February 2009

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